Took a long time to get the V-22 to work right but it seems to be working out well for the Marines. Marines should pick up the A-10s the USAF doesn't want anymore and use them for Osprey escorts.
They are getting more work than they know what to do with:
"Next in line for readiness recovery is the V-22 Osprey – which reached initial operational capability only nine years ago but is “the most in-demand airplane in the world, and we’re loving it to death.”
Davis said this fleet has been operating at surge capacity since it was fielded and shows no sign of slowing down. Readiness has degraded because the tiltrotors are being used faster than ready forces can be generated. In theory, for every V-22 squadron deployed in a Marine Expeditionary Unit, one is just getting home and another is training to go out next. With three MEUs out at any given time, the Marines would need nine squadrons to sustain this 1:2 deployment-to-dwell ratio.
However, the V-22s are now also used in land-based Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs) in U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command – meaning five squadrons are deployed and 15 would be needed to sustain.
“I’ve got 14. For a long time I had 13,” Davis said.
“So what that means is, we were moving maintainers from unit to unit to unit. Our [deployment] tempo is 1:2, or less than 1:2 in V-22. Going aboard the ship, going to Special Purpose MAGTF, basically we have no breathing space for our pilots or our maintainers in V-22. We have been at surge since 2007. … The airplane’s been incredible, just been incredible, but we’re basically outstripping our ability… to sustain it with spare parts and train the maintainers.”
The deployment tempo has not only taken its toll on the planes themselves, but also the personnel. There are no V-22 captains at the Expeditionary Warfare School and none serving as forward air controllers – both great career advancement opportunities – because they’re so busy operating at a surge rate.
The Defense Secretary recently approved a decision to cut the number of V-22s in the Special Purpose MAGTF- Africa from 12 to six, as well as cutting the number of C-130Js from four to two, giving the Marines a little more capacity for proper training at home.
“They’re still standing up squadrons and trying to make a move to Hawaii and everything else,” Davis said of the V-22 community.
“So we’re going to pull back a little bit from our overseas commitment in order to plus-up our training base and basically give us some breathing room.”
Any emerging requirements that can’t be met by the half-sized Osprey squadron in the Special Purpose MAGTF would be taken on by the nearest MEU, he said.
The service is still developing its V-22 readiness recovery plan now and will implement changes as needed, Davis said, but he’s optimistic that a slower operational tempo will help. Marine Helicopter Squadron (HMX) 1, the presidential helicopter squadron, is prioritized for obvious reasons. It has a stable base of maintainers with a stable workload, and it gets all the spare parts it needs in a timely fashion. As a result, HMX-1 had a 94 percent readiness rate over the last six months and only a 2.6 percent not mission capable- supply rate – a tenth of what the rest of the V-22 fleet saw – showing that the planes work just fine when properly cared for."
- from USNI
A-10s were offered and rejected by the marines in the early 90s same story with the army. Army citing costs, Marines that it can't be ship based.
